WO2022067702A1 - Method and device for reporting and implementing multiconnection handover capability - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a method and device for reporting and implementing a multiconnection handover capability. The method comprises: a terminal device generates first information on the basis of whether self supports a multiconnection handover capability, the first information comprising first indication information and second information, the first indication information being used for indicating whether the terminal device supports the multiconnection handover capability, the second information comprising at least one set of correlations, each set of correlations of the at least one set of correlations respectively being used for indicating relevant information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells being cells supporting the retention of concurrent connections when the terminal device is performing a cell handover. Based on the solution, insofar as the relevant information of a source cell and that of at least one target cell satisfy the relevant information of at least two cells indicated in a same set of correlations, the terminal device is allowed to activate a multiconnection handover on the basis of the source cell and of the at least one target cell.

Description

Method and device for reporting and realizing multi-connection switching capability technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for reporting and implementing the multi-connection switching capability.

Background technique

At present, when a terminal device performs cell or base station handover, zero-millisecond service interruption can be achieved through multi-connection handover. Maintaining multiple connections with the source base station and the target base station, the terminal device can continue to communicate with the source base station, such as receiving downlink data from the source base station or sending uplink data to the source base station, until the handover is completed.

It should be understood that the terminal equipment that supports the multi-connection handover mode should have the multi-connection handover capability, wherein the multi-connection handover capability refers to being able to maintain connections with at least two cells at the same time, and because the multi-connection handover capability is not necessary for all terminal devices. Therefore, before determining to use the multi-connection switching method, the network device needs to know whether the terminal device has the multi-connection switching capability. At present, the method of reporting the multi-connection handover capability of the terminal device to the network device can only report the cell combinations that some terminal devices support for multi-connection handover, which cannot be fully expressed, and the application scenario is limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application provides a method and apparatus for reporting and realizing multi-connection handover capability, so as to provide a way of flexibly reporting a combination of cells or base stations that terminal equipment supports for multi-connection handover.

In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for reporting a multi-connection switching capability. The communication method can be implemented by a terminal device, or can be implemented by components of the terminal device, such as processing chips, circuits and other components in the terminal device. . The method includes: the terminal device generates first information according to whether it supports the multi-connection switching capability, the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, and the first information includes first indication information and second information. An indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, and the multi-connection handover capability means that the terminal device can maintain connection with at least two cells when performing cell handover; the second information includes at least A set of correspondences, each of the at least one set of correspondences is used to respectively indicate the relevant information of at least two cells, the at least two cells for which the terminal device supports simultaneous maintenance during cell handover The connected cell; the terminal device sends the first information to the network device.

Through the above design, the terminal device is not affected by the multi-connection capability, and can report each group of multi-connection switching capabilities supported by the terminal device through the second information. As long as the related information of the source cell where the terminal device is located and at least one target cell satisfies the related information of at least two cells indicated by the same set of correspondence, the terminal device and the network device can activate the multi-connection handover. The above method can completely and accurately report the multi-connection switching capability supported by the terminal device, and the reporting method is more flexible and practical.

In a possible implementation manner, the related information of the at least two cells includes a frequency band combination identifier of each of the at least two cells.

In a possible implementation manner, the relevant information of the at least two cells further includes additional information of the frequency band combination of each cell. Exemplarily, the additional information may include carrier information, channel information, frequency point information, and heterogeneous system information; Exemplarily, the second information may include one or more of the following correspondences: the first source The frequency band combination and the first target frequency band combination, the first source frequency band combination is a single carrier, the first target frequency band combination is a single carrier; the second source frequency band combination and the second target frequency band combination, the second source frequency band combination For dual carriers, the second target frequency band is combined into a single carrier; the third source frequency band combination and the third target frequency band combination, the third source frequency band combination is a single carrier, and the first target frequency band combination is a dual carrier; A four-source frequency band combination and a fourth target frequency band combination, the fourth source frequency band combination is a dual carrier, and the fourth target frequency band combination is a dual carrier.

In a possible implementation manner, each set of the corresponding relationship may further include second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate whether the frequency band combination in the at least two cells indicated by the corresponding relationship has frequency spectrum overlapping.

Through the above design, there may be spectrum overlap between carriers of the same frequency during multi-connection switching. The second indication information can indicate whether the terminal device supports the activation of multi-connection switching when the spectrum overlaps, which can further enhance the integrity of the terminal device's ability to report multi-connection switching. sex and flexibility.

In a possible implementation manner, before the terminal device sends the first information to the network device, the terminal device may further receive third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate the The terminal device sends the first information.

Through the above design, if the network device does not support the multi-connection switching capability, the third indication information will not be sent to the terminal device, and the terminal device will not report the multi-connection switching capability to the network device, so as to avoid the multi-connection switching capability when the network device does not support the multi-connection switching capability. When the terminal equipment blindly reports the multi-connection handover capability, the resource waste caused by the multi-connection switching capability is saved, and the signaling overhead is saved.

In the second aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a method for realizing multi-connection switching capability, and the communication method can be realized by a network device or by components in the network device, such as processing chips, circuits and other components in the network device. accomplish. The method includes: the network device receives first information from the terminal device; the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, the first indication information is used for Indicates whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, and the multi-connection handover capability means that the terminal device can maintain connections with at least two cells when performing cell handover; the second information includes at least one set of correspondences, Each of the at least one set of correspondences is used to indicate the relevant information of at least two cells, the at least two cells are cell combinations that the terminal device supports to keep the connection when performing cell handover; The network device determines the manner in which the terminal device performs cell handover according to the first information; the network device is a network device in a source cell where the terminal device is located.

In a possible implementation manner, before the network device receives the first information from the terminal device, it may also send third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the network device sending the first information to a second network device, where the second network device prepares for the terminal device to switch to when performing cell handover network equipment.

For the technical effect that can be achieved by any possible design of the above second aspect, reference may be made to the technical effect that can be achieved in the above-mentioned first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal device or a chip inside the terminal device. The apparatus has functional modules for implementing each of the embodiments in the above-mentioned first aspect. The functional module can be implemented by hardware, or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. Exemplarily, the apparatus may include a communication module and a processing module, wherein the communication module may further include a sending module and a receiving module.

In a possible design, the processing module is configured to generate first information according to whether the communication device supports the multi-connection switching capability, where the first information includes the first indication information, or the first information includes the first indication information and the second information, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports a multi-connection handover capability, and the multi-connection handover capability means that the terminal device can maintain connections with at least two cells when performing cell handover; The second information includes at least one set of correspondences, and each set of correspondences in the at least one set of correspondences is respectively used to indicate the relevant information of at least two cells, where the at least two cells are the terminals in which the terminal equipment is located. When performing cell handover, a cell that maintains a connection at the same time is supported; a sending module unit is configured to send the first information to a network device.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network device or a chip inside the network device. The apparatus has the function of implementing each of the embodiments in the above-mentioned second aspect. This function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. Exemplarily, the apparatus may include a communication module and a processing module, wherein the communication module may further include a sending module and a receiving module.

a receiving module, configured to receive first information from a terminal device; the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, and the first indication information is used to indicate Whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, the multi-connection handover capability means that the terminal device can maintain connection with at least two cells when performing cell handover; the second information includes at least one set of correspondences, and the Each set of correspondences in the at least one set of correspondences is respectively used to indicate the relevant information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cell combinations that the terminal device supports to keep the connection when performing cell handover; processing module , which is used to determine, according to the first information, the manner in which the terminal device performs cell handover; the network device is the network device in the source cell where the terminal device is located.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, including a processor and an interface circuit, where the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, and execute the above-mentioned first aspect and the methods of various possible designs of the first aspect, or Methods for performing the above-described second aspect and various possible designs of the second aspect. The processor includes one or more.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, including a processor, which is connected to a memory and used to call a program stored in the memory to execute the above-mentioned first aspect and the methods of various possible designs of the first aspect, Or implement the above-mentioned second aspect and various possible designs of the second aspect. The memory may be located within the device or external to the device. And the processor may include one or more.

In a seventh aspect, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, when the computer-readable storage medium runs on a computer, the processor causes the processor to execute the first aspect and various aspects of the first aspect. possible design methods, or methods for implementing the above-mentioned second aspect and various possible designs of the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions that, when run on a computer, cause the computer to execute the above-mentioned first aspect and various possible designs of the first aspect, or to execute the above-mentioned second aspect and The second aspect is a variety of possible design methods.

In a ninth aspect, the present application further provides a chip or a chip system, comprising: a processor and a communication interface, where the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the communication interface, and execute the above-mentioned first aspect and various possible designs of the first aspect method, or a method for implementing the second aspect and various possible designs of the second aspect.

For the technical effect that can be achieved by any of the possible designs in the third aspect to the ninth aspect, reference may be made to the technical effect that can be achieved in the first aspect above, which will not be repeated here.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a dual connection scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another dual connection scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another multi-connection scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a cell handover scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to a method for reporting and implementing multi-connection switching capability provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6a is a schematic diagram of a data structure for carrying first information according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6b is a schematic diagram of another data structure carrying first information provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6c is a schematic flowchart corresponding to a reporting and a complete method for realizing multi-connection switching capability provided by an embodiment of the present application;

7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided by the present application.

Detailed ways

Hereinafter, some terms in the present application will be explained first, so as to facilitate the understanding of those skilled in the art.

1) A terminal, also known as User Equipment (UE), is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user, for example, a handheld device with a wireless connection function, a vehicle-mounted device, and the like. Common terminals include, for example, mobile phones, tablet computers, notebook computers, handheld computers, mobile internet devices (mobile internet devices, MIDs), and wearable devices, such as smart watches, smart bracelets, and pedometers.

2) A network device is an entity on the network side for transmitting or receiving signals, and the network device may be a device for communicating with a mobile device. The network device may be an access point (Access Point, AP) in a wireless local area network (WLAN), an evolved base station (evolved Node B, eNB or eNodeB) in LTE), or a relay station or access point. point, or distributed network element (Distributed Unit), or centralized network element (Centralized Unit), or reception point (Transmission Reception Point, TRP) or transmission point (Transmission Point, TP) or a new generation of base stations in the NR system ( generation Node B, gNodeB), or network equipment in a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN) network, etc., the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

The present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiments of the present application may be applied to various mobile communication systems, such as: a long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, an advanced long term evolution (Advanced long term evolution, LTE-A) system, a universal mobile communication system (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS), evolved Long Term Evolution (evolved Long Term Evolution, eLTE) system, 5G system (such as NR system), and other mobile communication systems such as future communication systems (such as 6G system).

The application scenario of this application may be that the terminal device works in a multi-connection scenario. For example, dual connectivity (DC) and more than two connections. In a dual-connection scenario, a terminal device can simultaneously access a primary network device and a secondary network device (also referred to as a source device and a target device). It should be noted that the primary network device and the secondary network device may be deployed on the same site, or may be deployed on different sites. Moreover, when the primary network device and the secondary network device can be deployed at the same site, the primary network device and the secondary network device can share the same set of hardware devices, or can use different hardware devices.

Referring to FIG. 1 , it is a schematic diagram of a dual-connection scenario where the primary network device and the secondary network device are deployed at different sites. The network device 201 may represent a primary network device, the network device 202 may represent a secondary network device, and the primary network device may be an LTE network device (such as an eNB), a 5G network device (such as a gNB), or a network device in a future communication system. One, the secondary network device may also be one of an LTE network device, a 5G network device, or a network device in a future communication system. In addition, the primary network device and the secondary network device may be network devices of the same standard, such as eNB, or may be network devices of different standards, such as the primary network device is eNB, and the secondary network device is gNB. This application does not limit the communication standards of the primary network device and the secondary network device.

In an embodiment of the present application, the primary network device works in the LTE system, and the primary network device is an LTE network device, that is, the primary network device may cover one or more LTE cells. The auxiliary network equipment works in the NR system, and the auxiliary network equipment is a 5G network equipment, that is, the auxiliary network equipment can cover one or more NR cells. Correspondingly, the terminal device 101 supports both the LTE system and the NR system, that is, the terminal device 101 can simultaneously access the LTE cell formed by the primary network device and the NR cell formed by the secondary network device. The cell covered by the primary network device accessed by the terminal device may also be referred to as a primary cell (PCell), and the cell covered by the secondary network device accessed by the terminal device may be referred to as a secondary cell (second cell). Exemplarily, the terminal device 101 may perform service transmission through the primary cell and at least one secondary cell, that is, when the terminal device 101 performs data transmission with the primary network device, it may also perform data transmission with the secondary network device.

Referring to FIG. 2 , it is a schematic diagram of a dual-connection scenario in which the primary network device and the secondary network device are deployed at the same site (the network device 203 is used as an example in FIG. 2 ). Exemplarily, in FIG. 2 , the network device 203 can work in the LTE system and the NR system at the same time, that is, the network device 203 can cover and form an LTE cell connection and an NR cell connection at the same time. The terminal device 101 can access the LTE cell and the NR cell at the same time.

The above scenario is an example of a dual-connection scenario, of course, this is just an example, and the dual-connection scenario may also exist in other situations, which will not be repeated here. In addition to the dual connection scenario, the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may also support more than two connection scenarios. For example, in the above example, the terminal device 101 may also access a cell formed by the coverage of three or more network devices at the same time. For example, taking three network devices as an example, the three network devices include a main network device and a Two secondary network devices, the terminal device can access the one primary network device and the two secondary network devices at the same time, the one primary network device and the two secondary network devices can be deployed on one or more network devices, exemplarily, can be They are deployed on three network devices respectively, or partially on one network device, or deployed on two network devices. Referring to FIG. 3 , where the primary network device is deployed on the network device 210 , one of the two secondary network devices is deployed on the network device 211 , and the other secondary network device is deployed on the network device 212 . This application The embodiment does not limit this.

The multi-connection scenario is described above from the perspective of different network devices. Similarly, in another embodiment of the present application, multi-connection may also mean that a terminal device simultaneously accesses two or more cells, or, The terminal equipment simultaneously accesses multiple carriers under the same network equipment, or multiple carriers under the same cell. For example, the multi-connection scenario may further include that the terminal device simultaneously accesses at least two cells covered by the same network device or different network devices, and the at least two cells may be single-carrier connection or multi-carrier connection. Or, the terminal device accesses a cell, which is a multi-carrier connection. For example, the single-carrier bandwidth of each single cell in LTE is 1.6M, and if the total bandwidth of each LTE single cell is 10M, then each LTE single-cell bandwidth is 10M. A single cell requires 6 carriers, and when a terminal device simultaneously accesses 2 to 6 carriers of the one LTE single cell, it can also be called multiple connections. The above scenario in which the terminal device supports access to multiple carriers may also be referred to as carrier aggregation (carrier aggregation, CA). It should be understood that a terminal device capable of working in a multi-connection scenario may be a frequency band combination (band combination, BC) that supports the DC type, or may be a frequency band combination that supports the carrier aggregation type.

The application scenario of the embodiment of the present application may be a scenario in which a terminal device performs cell handover. Referring to FIG. 4 , it is a schematic diagram of a cell handover scenario. As shown in FIG. 4 , the scenario includes at least two access network devices 230 and 231 (two are shown as an example in FIG. 4 , but this is not limited in this embodiment of the present application) and at least one terminal device 101 ( One example is shown in FIG. 4 , which is not limited in this application). Wherein, the access network device may be the above network device.

In a possible scenario, while the terminal device 101 is attached to the source access network device 230, it may periodically send a signal measurement report to the source access network device 230, and the source access network device 230 determines whether It is necessary to switch the terminal device 101 to other access network devices, and select the target access network device 231 to be switched for the terminal device according to the signal measurement report, and notify the target access network device 231 to prepare access for the terminal device 101. resources, and notify the terminal device 101 to access the target access network device 231.

During the handover phase, the terminal device 101 will be handed over from the source access network device 230 to the target cell 231 . Specifically, according to whether the terminal device 101 supports multi-connection, the handover mode can be divided into multi-connection handover and non-multi-connection handover. The non-multi-connection handover refers to that during the handover process, the terminal device 101 will disconnect from the source access network device 230, and then access the target access network device. During the period before the terminal device 101 detaches from the source access network device 230 to the access target access network device 231, the data transmission between the terminal device 101 and the source access network device 230 will also be interrupted accordingly.

The multi-connection handover may mean that during the handover process, the terminal device 101 keeps connection with the source access network device 230 and the target access network device 231 at the same time, or the terminal device 101 keeps connection with the source cell and the target cell at the same time, that is to say , during the handover process, the data transmission between the terminal device 101 and the source access network device 230 will not be interrupted. For example, the terminal device 101 may also receive from the source access network device 230 the data sent by the core network device to the terminal device 101 Downlink data, or the terminal device 101 can also send uplink data to the source access network device 230, and the terminal device 101 can also perform data transmission with the target access network device 231, thus realizing the so-called zero-millisecond service interruption.

To sum up, the ability to support multi-connection during handover can be called multi-connection handover capability. Since multi-connection handover capability is not a necessary capability for all terminal devices, before deciding to use the multi-connection handover method, network devices need to Know whether the terminal device has multi-connection switching capability. At present, the terminal device indicates the multi-connection switching capability of the terminal device by reporting a BC message. Although the above method can report the multi-connection capability of the terminal device, it cannot accurately and completely report the multi-connection switching capability of the terminal device. The difference between the multi-connection capability and the multi-connection handover capability is that the multi-connection capability requires the terminal device to have the ability to maintain simultaneous connections with multiple cells for a long time, while the handover process is relatively short and does not require the terminal device to connect to multiple cells for a long time. Also stay connected. Therefore, for the multi-connection switching capability supported by the terminal device, the existing method cannot realize the integrity reporting.

For example, the terminal device supports BC1 and BC2, where BC1 is n78, single carrier (abbreviated as 1CC), and 2 multiple-in multiple-out (multiple-in multiple-out, MIMO). BC2 is n41, 1CC, 2MIMO. Among them, n78 and n41 respectively correspond to the frequency points stipulated by a protocol, and 2MIMO refers to dual channels, which can be understood as the number of channels used to receive data in one carrier. It can be understood from the above example that the terminal device can work on a single carrier of the n78 frequency point, and support both uplink and downlink channels in the single carrier. Alternatively, the terminal device can also work on a single carrier of frequency n41, and the single carrier supports both uplink and downlink channels.

During cell handover, if the source cell is BC1 and the target cell is BC2, and the terminal device supports multi-connection handover between the source cell and the target cell, the terminal device needs to report BC3, specifically, BC3 is n78(1CC)+n41 (1CC), 2MIMO+2MIMO. However, for a terminal device supporting 2MIMO, the BC3 cannot be supported for a long time, because the BC supported by the terminal device for a long time is actually n78(1CC)+n41(1CC), 1MIMO+1MIMO. Therefore, the existing terminal device will not report BC3. However, in fact, when performing cell handover, for a terminal device supporting 2MIMO, the time-division transmission mode of n41 and n78 can be supported in a short time to satisfy the 2MIMO capability required by n41 and n78, respectively. Moreover, even if the terminal device reports BC (n78(1CC)+n41(1CC), 1MIMO+1MIMO), it cannot instruct to activate multi-connection switching during cell switching in the communication systems of BC1 and BC2.

Therefore, the existing method for reporting the multi-connection switching capability may not be fully expressed, and a new method for reporting the multi-connection switching capability is urgently needed to realize the complete reporting of the multi-connection switching capability supported by the terminal device.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present application provides a method for reporting the multi-connection handover capability. The terminal device generates first information according to whether it supports the multi-connection handover capability. The first information includes the first indication information, or the first information includes the first information. an indication information and second information, the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, the second information includes at least one set of correspondences, each of the at least one set of correspondences The group correspondence is respectively used to indicate the relevant information of at least two cells, the at least two cells being the cells that the terminal device supports to keep the connection at the same time when performing cell handover. Multi-connection handover can be activated as long as the source cell and at least one target cell to be handed over simultaneously satisfy (are included in) the two cells indicated in the same set of correspondences. The above method can completely and accurately report the multi-connection switching capability supported by the terminal device.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below through specific embodiments and accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 5 , a schematic flowchart corresponding to a method for reporting a multi-connection handover capability provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to the system shown in any of the scenarios in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 . As shown in FIG. 5 , the method can include the following steps:

Step 501: The terminal device generates first information according to whether it supports the multi-connection handover capability.

The multi-connection switching capability has been introduced in the previous section, and will not be repeated here. The first information includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection switching capability. Exemplarily, the first indication information may include 1 bit, and two values (ie, 0 and 1) of the bit on the 1 bit indicate that the multi-connection switching capability is supported and the multi-connection switching capability is not supported, respectively. For example, when the value of the bit on the 1 bit is 0, it indicates that the terminal device supports the multi-connection switching capability. When the value of the bit on the 1 bit is 1, it indicates that the terminal device does not support the multi-connection switching capability. It should be understood that the above is only an example, and the content indicated by the bit value is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In an example, the terminal device does not support the multi-connection switching capability, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device does not support the multi-connection switching capability.

In another example, if the terminal device supports the multi-connection switching capability, the first information may include second information in addition to the first indication information. The first indication information here is used to indicate that the terminal device supports the multi-connection switching capability. The second information includes at least one set of correspondences, and each set of correspondences in the at least one set of correspondences is respectively used to indicate the relevant information of at least two cells that the terminal device supports while maintaining the connected cell.

As shown in Table 1 below, it is an example of the corresponding relationship. Wherein, each set of correspondences may include identifiers of at least two frequency band combinations.

Table 1

Index	Identification of frequency band combinations
1	BC1, BC2
2	BC3, BC4, BC5
...	...

Among them, for index 1, it means that the terminal device supports multi-connection handover of multiple cells corresponding to BC1 and BC2, and index 2 means that the terminal device supports multi-connection handover of multiple cells corresponding to BC3, BC4, and BC5. It should be understood that the above-mentioned Table 1 is only an example, and the corresponding relationship in the embodiment of the present application may also be in other forms, for example, no index, etc., which is not limited in the present application, and the identification of the frequency band combination in Table 1 is also only an example , this application does not limit this.

Continue to refer to the examples of BC1 and BC2 above. Specifically, for terminal equipment that supports BC1 and BC2 respectively, when reporting the multi-connection switching capability, the terminal equipment will report the message of BC1 and the message of BC2 respectively. As shown above, the BC1 means that the terminal equipment supports working under the communication system indicated by BC1 for a long time. Similarly, BC2 means that the terminal equipment supports working under the working system indicated by BC2 for a long time. And the reported BC1 message and BC2 message also contain the communication parameters of BC1 and BC2 respectively. For example, the message of BC1 also includes the number of carriers, frequency, and whether it is a heterogeneous system (that is, working in different system) and other information, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In this application, regardless of whether the terminal device supports 2MIMO+2MIMO, if a set of correspondence reported by the terminal device includes BC1 and BC2, it means that the terminal device supports activating multi-connection switching when the source cell is BC1 and the target cell is BC2 .

There are multiple ways for the terminal device to send the first information in this embodiment of the present application. In an implementable way, the first information may be carried in the following information:

Referring to Fig. 6a, the first information may be carried in the existing information, for example, the first information may be carried in the terminal equipment capability information (UE capability information). In an implementation manner, the UE capability information is used to carry the BC message. It is assumed that the BCs to be reported by the terminal device include BC1 and BC2. For each BC supported by the terminal device, the terminal device may separately report the first information corresponding to the BC, wherein the first information corresponding to each BC includes the multi-connection switching capability of the BC and other BCs.

For example, the first information corresponding to BC1 includes one or more sets of correspondences between BC1 and other BCs. Exemplarily, the correspondences included in the first information include: BC1 and BC1, and BC1 and BC2. For another example, the first information corresponding to BC2 includes one or more sets of correspondences between BC2 and other BCs. It should be understood that the other BC is a combination of the BC and the other BC determined by the terminal device that supports multi-connection handover.

As shown in Figure 6a, the UE capability information includes UE-NR-Capability, and the terminal device can carry first information in the rf-Parameters (parameters) information element of UE-NR-Capability, where the first information is named, for example, supportedBandCombinationList-v1xxx , the first information includes two elements:

BandCombination-vxxxx1 (corresponding to the multi-connection capability table of BC1) and BandCombination-vxxxx2 (corresponding to the multi-connection capability table of BC2); BandCombination-vxxxx1 contains nr-nr-Xxxx substructure and nr-eutra-Xxxx substructure, respectively representing BC1 Multi-connectivity table with all NR BCs, and between BC1 and LTE BC;

BandCombination-vxxxx1/nr-nr-Xxxx/BcBcXxxxCapability 1 indicates the multi-connectivity between BC1 (this BC) and BC1, BandCombination-vxxxx1/nr-nr-Xxxx/BcBcXxxxCapability 2 indicates the connection between BC1 (this BC) and BC2 Multiple connection capabilities.

Similarly, BandCombination-vxxxx2/nr-nr-Xxxx/BcBcXxxxCapability 1 indicates the multi-connectivity between BC2 (this BC) and BC1, BandCombination-vxxxx1/nr-nr-Xxxx/BcBcXxxxCapability 2 indicates BC2 (this BC) and BC2 multi-connectivity between.

It should be noted that there may be BCs with the same range among multiple BCs supported by the terminal device. For example, BC1 is a subset of BC2. Here, BC1 can be called the fallback of BC2. If BC1-BCX supports multi-connection switching , BC2-BCX does not support multi-connection switching, so BC1-BCX also needs to be reported.

In an implementable manner, each set of correspondences in the first information may further include description information of the set of multi-connection switching capabilities, for example, whether time synchronization, whether it is the same frequency point, whether it is a different frequency point, etc. information, continue to participate in Figure 6a, where xxxx-Supported indicates that BC1 and BC1 support Xxxx capabilities, intraFreqXxxx indicates whether intraFreqXxxx supports intra-frequency switching, and interFreqXxxx indicates whether inter-frequency switching is supported. Figure 6a is only an example, and the embodiments of the present application It is not limited, for example, capability information such as synchronous and asynchronous, and several TAGs may also be included.

It should be understood that FIG. 6a uses the nr-nr-Xxxx substructure as an example to illustrate the first information, and the nr-eutra-Xxxx substructure can also carry the first information, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application, nor does it Repeat the instructions again.

The above is from the perspective of the BC. The first information corresponding to the BC is reported in each BC. In this embodiment of the present application, the combination of all multi-connection handovers supported by the terminal device may also be reported from the perspective of the terminal device. The difference between the two is that when reporting from the perspective of BC, there may be duplicate correspondences in the first information corresponding to each BC. For example, if the combination of multi-connection switching supported by the terminal device includes BC1 and BC2, then The first information includes BC1-BC2, and the first information corresponding to BC2 includes BC2-BC1. When reporting from the perspective of the terminal device, duplicate combinations can be filtered.

Referring to Fig. 6b, it is a schematic diagram of a data structure carrying the first information. As shown in Fig. 6b, the terminal device can also add supportedIntraRatXxxxList and supportedInterRatXxxxList information elements in the RF-Parameters information element, which respectively represent the multi-connection capability between NR BCs, And the list of multi-connection capabilities between NR BC and LTE BC; supportedIntraRatXxxxList/BcBcXxxxCapabilty2-1 represents the multi-connectivity capability supported between BC1 and BC1, and supportedIntraRatXxxxList/BcBcXxxxCapabilty2-2 represents the multi-connectivity capability supported between BC1 and BC2.

To sum up, the embodiment of the present application indicates that the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover between the BC and the BC by reporting the corresponding relationship between the BC and the BC, that is, if there is a corresponding relationship between the BC and the BC, it indicates that the terminal device supports Multi-connection switching, if there is no corresponding relationship, it means that multi-connection switching is not supported. As shown in Table 2 below, it is another specific example of the first information.

Table 2

Assuming that BC1 is 1CC and BC2 is 1CC, it means that the terminal equipment supports simultaneous connection with the 1CC of BC1 and the 1CC of BC2; for example, the source access network equipment includes one cell, denoted as source cell A, and the target access network equipment includes at least A cell is denoted as target cell A, the frequency band combination used by source cell A is BC1, and the frequency band combination used by target cell A is BC2, then the terminal equipment supports simultaneous connection with source cell A and target cell A.

Assuming that BC3 is 2CC and BC4 is 1CC, it means that the terminal equipment supports simultaneous connection with 2CC of BC3 and 1CC of BC4; for example, the source access network equipment includes two cells, which are denoted as source cell A and source cell B respectively. The frequency band combination used by cell A and the frequency band combination used by source cell B is BC3. The target access network equipment includes one cell, denoted as target cell A, and the frequency band combination used is BC4. B and target cell A are connected at the same time.

Assuming that BC5 is 1CC and BC6 is 2CC, it means that the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with 1CC of BC5 and 2CC of BC6; for example, the source access network device includes one cell, denoted as source cell A, and the target access network device includes at least two When the frequency band combination used by the source cell A is BC5, and the frequency band combination used by the target cell A and the frequency band combination used by the target cell B is BC6, the terminal equipment supports the A. The target cell A and the target cell B are connected at the same time.

Assuming that BC7 is 2CC and BC8 is 2CC, it means that the terminal equipment supports simultaneous connection with 2CC of BC7 and 2CC of BC8; for example, the source access network equipment includes two cells, denoted as source cell A and source cell B, respectively. The network access device includes at least two cells, denoted as target cell A and target cell B respectively. The frequency band combination adopted by source cell A and the frequency band combination adopted by source cell B is BC7, and the frequency band combination adopted by target cell A and target cell B. When the frequency band combination of BC8 is BC8, the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with source cell A, source cell B, target cell A and target cell B.

It should be noted that the above Table 2 is only an example, and the corresponding relationship may include multiple BCs, for example, three BCs, four BCs, etc., that is, two or more BCs, for example, index 5 includes BC1 , BC2, and BC3, it means that the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with 1CC of BC1, 1CC of BC2, and 2CC of BC3, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In addition, in the corresponding relationship, the source cell and the target cell can be distinguished. For example, in the corresponding relationship in Table 2, the left column represents the source cell, and the right column represents the target cell, see the above description, or the left column can also be the target cell For the cell, the column on the right is the source cell. For example, taking index1 in Table 2 as an example, the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with the source Pcell (BC2) and the target Pcell (BC1). The above manner makes it convenient for the network device to inquire whether it satisfies the corresponding relationship in the first information.

Alternatively, the corresponding relationship may not distinguish the list positions of the source cell and the target cell. For example, taking index1 in Table 2 as an example, the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with the source Pcell (BC1) and the target Pcell (BC2). Alternatively, the terminal device supports simultaneous connection with the source Pcell (BC2) and the target Pcell (BC1).

In addition, in a possible scenario, when performing cell handover, the source cell and the target cell may both be single-carrier, and the source cell and the target cell may be on the same frequency or on different frequencies. In the case of intra-frequency handover, the spectrum of the carrier of the source cell and the carrier of the target cell may overlap, and the concept of BC combination (CA or DC) is just carrier aggregation, that is, the carriers are adjacent or not adjacent, but will not overlap; therefore, this application The embodiment may indicate whether there is spectrum overlap between BCs in the correspondence reported by the terminal device in the following manner. In an implementable manner, the first information reported by the terminal device includes a BC combination that supports multi-connection handover with overlapping spectrum, that is, the default terminal device supports multi-connection handover with overlapping spectrum. In another implementable manner, the terminal device indicates, through the second indication information, whether the set of corresponding relationships indicates spectrum overlap. The second indication may be carried in the description information of each set of correspondence. Exemplarily, the second indication information may include 1 bit, and the two values (ie, 0 and 1) of the bit in the 1 bit represent respectively Spectral overlap is supported, and spectrum overlap is not supported. For example, when the value of the bit on the 1 bit is 0, it indicates that the BC combination indicated by the corresponding relationship supports spectral overlap. When the value of the bit on the 1 bit is 1, it indicates that the BC combination indicated by the corresponding relationship does not support spectral overlap. It should be understood that the above is only an example, and the content indicated by the bit value is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Step 502: The terminal device sends the first information to the network device, and correspondingly, the network device receives the first information sent by the terminal device.

Subsequently, after the terminal device sends the first information to the network device, if the first indication information is used to indicate that the multi-connection handover capability is not supported, the network device does not activate the multi-connection handover.

It should be understood that, if the terminal device supports the multi-connection switching capability, when the multi-connection switching is activated, the network device should also support the multi-connection switching capability. Exemplarily, if the first information includes the second information, the network device determines whether to activate the multi-connection handover according to whether it supports the multi-connection handover capability and the second information, which is not described in this embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that the network device may be a core network device, and during cell handover, the source access network device and the target access network device may acquire the first information of the terminal device from the core network device. Alternatively, the network device may be a source access network device, and the source access network device sends the first information to the target access network device, or the source access network device may filter the first information, and the filtered information For sending to the access network device, for example, the source access network device may send the first information including the corresponding relationship of its own BC to the target access network device.

Optionally, this embodiment of the present application may further include step 500: the network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to request the terminal device to report capability information, and the terminal device receives the third indication information after receiving the third indication information. , and then perform step 501 or step 502 . If the network device does not support the multi-connection switching capability, the multi-connection switching of the terminal device cannot be activated. Therefore, the terminal device may not be required to report the capability information of the terminal device itself.

Exemplarily, the third indication information may be carried in an existing information element and sent, for example, the third indication information is carried in UECapabilityEnquiry information.

Referring to FIG. 6c, a schematic flowchart corresponding to a complete method for reporting a multi-connection handover capability provided by an embodiment of the present application, the method may include the following steps:

Step 701: The source access network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the third indication information sent by the source access network device.

Step 702: The terminal device generates first information according to whether it supports the multi-connection handover capability.

Step 703: The terminal device sends the first information to the source access network device, and correspondingly, the source access network device receives the first information sent by the terminal device.

Step 704: The terminal device sends a measurement report to the source access network device, and correspondingly, the source access network device receives the measurement report sent by the terminal device.

Step 705: The source access network device determines whether the terminal device supports activation of multi-connection handover according to the first information.

The first information includes the first indication information, or the first information includes the first indication information and the second information. For the specific introduction of the first information, please refer to the relevant description above, and the description will not be repeated here.

Exemplarily, given that the first information includes the first indication information and the second information, after the source access network device determines to switch the terminal device to the target access network device according to the measurement report, it can be based on the information reported by the terminal device. The second information and its own resources (for example, whether the BC included in the source access network device and/or whether the source access network device supports multi-connection handover) determine whether there is a satisfactory combination of access network devices, and if so, set the The information of the network access device combination is sent to the target access network device, that is, step 706 . For example, the source access network device supports multi-connection handover, and the source access network device includes BC1. Taking Table 2 above as an example, the source access network device satisfies the combination of access network devices for activating multi-connection handover as shown in Table 2 The combination corresponding to index1.

Step 706: The source access network device sends the multi-connection handover request information to the target access network device, and correspondingly, the target access network device receives the multi-connection handover request information sent by the source access network device.

Still in conjunction with the example in step 705, the source access network device may send the index value (for example, index1) of the corresponding relationship satisfying to the target access network device, or send each BC (for example, BC1 and BC2) is sent to the target access network device, or BCs other than the source access network device in the corresponding relationship are sent to the target access network device, for example, the source access network device includes BC1, then BC2 can be sent to the target access network device. The target access network device.

Step 707: The target access network device sends multi-connection handover confirmation information to the source access network device, and correspondingly, the source access network device receives the multi-connection handover confirmation information sent by the target access network device.

The target access network device confirms that it supports the multi-connection handover capability and is satisfied with the BC of the multi-connection handover supported by the terminal device, and sends a multi-connection handover confirmation message to the source access network device, which may also include the target access network. Information about the BC for multi-connection switching supported by the device, such as index or BC.

In addition, in a possible scenario, if the target access network device does not support the multi-connection handover capability, the target access network device sends a multi-connection handover rejection message to the source access network device.

Step 708: The source access network device sends a handover command to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the handover command sent by the source access network device.

In addition to the above-mentioned information, the handover command can also carry fifth indication information, where the fifth indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to activate multi-connection handover.

As shown in FIG. 7 , which is a possible exemplary block diagram of the communication apparatus involved in this application, the apparatus 700 may exist in the form of software or hardware. The apparatus 700 may include: a processing unit 702 and a communication unit 703 . As an implementation manner, the communication unit 703 may include a receiving unit and a sending unit. The processing unit 702 is used to control and manage the actions of the device 700 . The communication unit 703 is used to support the communication between the device 700 and other network entities. The apparatus 700 may further include a storage unit 701 for storing program codes and data of the apparatus 700 .

The processing unit 702 may be a processor or a controller, such as a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), general-purpose processor, digital signal processing (DSP), application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit) circuits, ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute the various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with this disclosure. The processor may also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like. The storage unit 701 may be a memory. The communication unit 703 is an interface circuit of the device for receiving signals from other devices. For example, when the device is implemented as a chip, the communication unit 703 is an interface circuit used by the chip to receive signals from other chips or devices, or an interface circuit used by the chip to send signals to other chips or devices.

The apparatus 700 may be a communication apparatus (such as a terminal device or a network device) in any of the foregoing embodiments, and may also be a chip used for the communication apparatus. For example, when the apparatus 700 is a terminal device, the processing unit 702 may be, for example, a processor, and the communication unit 703 may be, for example, a transceiver. Optionally, the transceiver may include a radio frequency circuit, and the storage unit may be, for example, a memory. For example, when the apparatus 700 is a chip for a terminal device, the processing unit 702 may be, for example, a processor, and the communication unit 703 may be, for example, an input/output interface, a pin, or a circuit. The processing unit 702 can execute computer-executed instructions stored in a storage unit, optionally, the storage unit is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc., and the storage unit can also be a storage unit in the terminal device located outside the chip storage units, such as read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, random access memory (RAM), etc.

In the first embodiment, the apparatus 700 is the terminal device in the above example, and the communication unit 703 of the terminal device includes a sending unit and a receiving unit.

The processing unit 702 is configured to generate first information according to whether it supports the multi-connection switching capability, where the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, and the first information includes first indication information and second information. An indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, and the multi-connection handover capability means that the terminal device can maintain connection with at least two cells when performing cell handover; the second information includes at least A set of correspondences, each of the at least one set of correspondences is used to respectively indicate the relevant information of at least two cells, the at least two cells for which the terminal device supports simultaneous maintenance during cell handover a connected cell; a sending unit, configured to send the first information to a network device.

In a possible implementation method, the related information of the at least two cells includes a frequency band combination identifier of each of the at least two cells.

In a possible implementation method, the relevant information of the at least two cells further includes additional information of the frequency band combination of each cell.

In a possible implementation method, each set of the corresponding relationship further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate whether the frequency band combination in the at least two cells indicated by the corresponding relationship has spectrum overlap .

In a possible implementation method, before the sending unit sends the first information to the network device, the receiving unit is configured to receive third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used for Instruct the terminal device to send the first information.

In the second embodiment, the apparatus 700 is the network device in the above example, and the communication unit 703 of the network device includes a sending unit and a receiving unit.

a receiving unit, configured to receive first information from a terminal device; the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, and the first indication information is used to indicate Whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, the multi-connection handover capability means that the terminal device can maintain connection with at least two cells when performing cell handover; the second information includes at least one set of correspondences, and the Each set of correspondences in the at least one set of correspondences is respectively used to indicate the relevant information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cell combinations that the terminal device supports to keep connected when performing cell handover;

A processing unit 702, configured to determine, according to the first information, a manner in which the terminal device performs cell handover; the network device is a network device in a source cell where the terminal device is located.

In a possible implementation method, before the receiving unit receives the first information from the terminal device, the sending unit is further configured to send third indication information to the terminal device, and the third indication information uses to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.

In a possible implementation method, the sending unit is further configured to send the first information to a second network device, where the second network device is to which the terminal device is to be handed over when performing cell handover. Network equipment.

Referring to FIG. 8 , which is a schematic diagram of an apparatus provided in the present application, the apparatus may be a communication apparatus (such as a terminal device and a network device in the above example) in the foregoing embodiment. The apparatus 800 includes: a processor 802 and a communication interface 803 . Optionally, the apparatus 800 may further include a memory 801 and/or a communication line 804 . Wherein, the communication interface 803, the processor 802 and the memory 801 can be connected to each other through a communication line 804; the communication line 804 can be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI for short) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture). , referred to as EISA) bus and so on. The communication line 804 can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of presentation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 8, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

The processor 802 may be a CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the programs of the present application.

Communication interface 803, using any transceiver-like device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio access networks (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), Wired access network, etc.

The memory 801 can be a ROM or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a RAM or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory). read-only memory, EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disk A storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and capable of being accessed by a computer, without limitation. The memory may exist independently and be connected to the processor through communication line 804 . The memory can also be integrated with the processor.

The memory 801 is used for storing computer-executed instructions for executing the solution of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 802 . The processor 802 is configured to execute the computer-executed instructions stored in the memory 801, so as to implement the communication methods provided by the foregoing embodiments of the present application.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable medium on which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, implements the communication method described in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which implements the communication method described in any of the above method embodiments when the computer program product is executed by a computer.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be downloaded from a website site, computer, server, or data center Transmission to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wire (eg, coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line, DSL) or wireless (eg, infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that includes an integration of one or more available media. The available media may be magnetic media (eg, floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (eg, high-density digital video discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (eg, solid state disks, SSD)) etc.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a processing apparatus, including a processor and an interface; the processor is configured to execute the communication method described in any of the above method embodiments.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned processing device may be a chip, and the processor may be implemented by hardware or software. When implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc.; when implemented by software At the time, the processor can be a general-purpose processor, which is realized by reading the software codes stored in the memory, and the memory can be integrated in the processor, and can be located outside the processor and exist independently.

It is to be understood that reference throughout the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic associated with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, appearances of "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the sequence of execution, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its functions and internal logic, and should not be dealt with in the embodiments of the present application. implementation constitutes any limitation.

Additionally, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" in this article is only an association relationship to describe the associated objects, indicating that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, it can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and A and B exist independently B these three cases. In addition, the character "/" in this document generally indicates that the related objects are an "or" relationship.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, "B corresponding to A" means that B is associated with A, and B can be determined according to A. However, it should also be understood that determining B according to A does not mean that B is only determined according to A, and B may also be determined according to A and/or other information.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of the two. Interchangeability, the above description has generally described the components and steps of each example in terms of function. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the system, device and unit described above may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated. to another system, or some features can be ignored, or not implemented. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may also be electrical, mechanical or other forms of connection.

Units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically alone, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware, or may be implemented in the form of software functional units.

From the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the present application can be implemented by hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions described above may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access. By way of example and not limitation, computer readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or be capable of carrying or storing instructions or data structures in the form of desired program code and any other medium that can be accessed by a computer. also. Any connection can be appropriately made into a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable , fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, wireless, and microwave are included in the fusing of the pertinent medium. Disk and disc, as used in this application, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and blu-ray disc, where disks generally reproduce data magnetically, and discs Lasers are used to optically copy data. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims (18)

1. A reporting method and a method for realizing multi-connection switching capability, comprising:

   The terminal device generates first information according to whether it supports the multi-connection switching capability, the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, and the first indication information is used In order to indicate whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, the multi-connection handover capability means that the terminal device can maintain connection with at least two cells when performing cell handover; the second information includes at least one set of correspondence , each of the at least one set of corresponding relationships is used to indicate the relevant information of at least two cells, the at least two cells are cells that the terminal device supports while maintaining a connection when performing cell handover;

   The terminal device sends the first information to the network device.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the relevant information of the at least two cells includes a frequency band combination identifier of each of the at least two cells.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the relevant information of the at least two cells further includes additional information of the frequency band combination of each cell.
4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein each set of the corresponding relationship further includes second indication information, wherein the second indication information is used to indicate frequency bands of at least two cells indicated by the corresponding relationship Whether the combination has spectral overlap.
5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein before the terminal device sends the first information to the network device, the method further comprises:

   The terminal device receives third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.
6. A method for realizing multi-connection switching capability, comprising:

   The network device receives first information from the terminal device; the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, and the first indication information is used to indicate the terminal Whether the device supports the multi-connection handover capability, the multi-connection handover capability means that the terminal device can maintain connections with at least two cells during cell handover; the second information includes at least one set of correspondences, the at least one Each of the group correspondences is respectively used to indicate the relevant information of at least two cells, the at least two cells being a combination of cells that the terminal device supports to keep connected when performing cell handover;

   The network device determines, according to the first information, a manner in which the terminal device performs cell handover; the network device is a network device in a source cell where the terminal device is located.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein before the network device receives the first information from the terminal device, the method further comprises:

   The network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.
8. The method of claim 6 or 7, further comprising:

   The network device sends the first information to a second network device, where the second network device is a network device to which the terminal device is to be handed over when performing cell handover.
9. A communication device, comprising:

   A processing unit, configured to generate first information according to whether the communication device supports the multi-connection switching capability, where the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, where The first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, and the multi-connection handover capability means that the terminal device can maintain connections with at least two cells when performing cell handover; the second information It includes at least one set of correspondences, and each set of correspondences in the at least one set of correspondences is used to indicate relevant information of at least two cells, which are supported by the terminal equipment when performing cell handover. Cells that remain connected at the same time;

   A communication unit, configured to send the first information to a network device.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the relevant information of the at least two cells includes a frequency band combination identifier of each of the at least two cells.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the relevant information of the at least two cells further includes additional information of the frequency band combination of each cell.
12. The apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, wherein each set of the corresponding relationship further includes second indication information, wherein the second indication information is used to indicate frequency bands of at least two cells indicated by the corresponding relationship Whether the combination has spectral overlap.
13. The apparatus according to any one of claims 9-12, wherein the communication unit is further configured to receive third indication information from the network device before sending the first information to the network device, the The third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.
14. A communication device, comprising:

    a communication unit, configured to receive first information from a terminal device; the first information includes first indication information, or the first information includes first indication information and second information, and the first indication information is used to indicate Whether the terminal device supports the multi-connection handover capability, the multi-connection handover capability means that the terminal device can maintain connection with at least two cells when performing cell handover; the second information includes at least one set of correspondences, and the Each set of correspondences in the at least one set of correspondences is respectively used to indicate the relevant information of at least two cells, and the at least two cells are cell combinations that the terminal device supports to keep connected when performing cell handover;

    and a processing unit, configured to determine, according to the first information, a manner in which the terminal device performs cell handover; the network device is a network device in a source cell where the terminal device is located.
15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the communication unit is further configured to send third indication information to the terminal equipment before receiving the first information from the terminal equipment, the third indication information using to instruct the terminal device to send the first information.
16. The apparatus according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the communication unit is further configured to send the first information to a second network device, and the second network device is the terminal device in a cell The network device to switch to when switching.
17. A communication device, characterized in that the device includes a processor and a memory;

    The memory stores computer program instructions;

    the processor for executing instructions stored on the memory which, when executed, cause the apparatus to perform a method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, or to perform a method as claimed in claim 1 The method of any one of 6 to 8.
18. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized by comprising instructions that, when executed, implement the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, or implement any one of claims 6 to 8 method described in item.

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